We arrived in Kaliro far sooner than we had expected, and I immediately got chills. My dad’s family was from here, and although I had heard stories and seen a few pictures, it was hard to believe that I was actually there. Kaliro is a small town, with a fairly small central street running through…

I’ve seen this now a few times, watching friends titter (with some embarrassment, because they know it’s inappropriate) when they hear or read news reports about “extremist Buddhists” in Myanmar. Why do they laugh? Because the image of radical Buddhists engaged in genocidal-like behavior is inconsistent with my friends’ stereotype of Buddhists as calm and…

Late last week, our son’s best friend lost his grandmother, who lived at home with them. We’ve know the family for 9 years due to the kids’ friendship so Mrs. M and I attended the funeral. Thing is, they are Ismaili Muslims, so this was a Muslim funeral. Very, very different from Christian or secular…

My story for this blog began about 20 years ago. I was fulfilling my life long dream of teaching medicine at a postgraduate level in the country of my birth, Pakistan. I was teaching as a Fulbright Scholar at the Aga Khan University in Karachi. I set up postgraduate medical training for physicians in…

“The Islamic ethic is that if God has given you the capacity or good fortune to be a privileged individual in society, you have a moral responsibility to society.” – Aga Khan, head, Islamic Ismailis worldwide Canada has welcomed a community of between 45,000 to 70,000 Ismaili Muslims as proud Canadian citizens. And this community…

An overview of our polarized world today presents a scene strewn with strife, which is a becoming matter of widespread concern. However, discovering new avenues leading to the neutralization of this polarity, as explored by diversified groups and institutions, is an equally great source of consolation. One set of such solutions was presented at the…

It’s 6:47 am and I have been up since the baby’s 5 am feed. As the early morning light pushes through the fog, finally, the tears are flowing. I have crept downstairs wrapped in a sweater and heartache, and am honouring the people who lost their lives in the Serena Hotel in Kabul on Navroz.…

Khoja communities such as the Ithnashari (“Twelver Shia”) and Agakhani use a convention for transliterating Arabic into the Gujarati script. It consists of adding diacritics to Gujarati letters which most closely approximate the Arabic sound being represented. Some of these diacritics are shown in the below excerpt of a printed version of the Quran in…

Ismaili Web Amaana Celebrates 20th year on the Internet. Nowruz 2014 Marks the 20th Anniversary of Amaana.org As you can read in the About section, I started the Ismaili Web in November 1993 and established the domain Amaana.org in March 1994. Since then I have been writing about the work of Mowlana Hazar Imam, His…

There are certain times where you’re immensely filled with happiness, love & honor. Where the sense of pride and comfort fills your heart and mind. Where you have a sense of belonging to something greater than you can imagine. Today is one of those days to say I’m proud to be an Shia Ismaili Muslim.…

Sana Dadani is a high school senior People dream about traveling to beautiful resorts and beaches, such as Tonga or the Caribbean, and historical cities full of culture, such as Athens, or Rome. Something that is uncommon for some people though, is visiting cities where Muslim architecture is prolific. Some of the third graders in…

In the poems, Nasir Khusraw asks, if those who pledged their allegiance to Muhammad are assured a place in heaven, what is the justice for those who live at a later time, to whom should they stretch out their hand? He asks, have you not heard to whom Prophet entrusted his dominion of the sermon…

Excerpt: When we asked our hosts about the Aga Khan they spoke of him with quiet devotion and gratitude. Ismaili Muslims don’t have mosques, they pray at home. We witnessed several times that while the rest of the family continued with their daily business or chatted to us, one member of the family would quietly…

The story of Djenné, Mali, is typically told through its architecture—monumental mud-brick structures that seem to rise out of the earth like a desert mirage. Every building in Djenné’s historic sector, designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1988, has been molded and reinforced by generations of mud masons, following an indigenous tradition as old…

Writing has been uprooted in Shahzad’s soul since his high school days. Shahzad is from Karachi, Pakistan and works For Jubilee General Insurance as a Management Trainee. Shahzad’s blog represents his thoughts about the mysteries of life, and its simplest form of perspective to see it in an angle a common man sees. His field…

Tajikistan’s poverty is numbing, its roads rotten, the vistas stunning and its people heartbreakingly hospitable, writes Jamie Lafferty. Excerpt: It’s a strange place, Khorog, a settlement of almost 30,000 wedged into a jagged valley peering over the Panj River, the southern border with Afghanistan. Hundreds of kilometres away from any other major town it has…

Excerpt: The day I am to return to Pakistan, the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the head of the Agha Khan community, Price Karim Agha Khan are commemorating the completion of the project for the restoration of the Mughal Emperor Humayun’s Tomb. I have visited the tomb a week ago and can attest to…

I have a few books to my credit this summer, but I haven’t accomplished as much as my ambitious goals urged me to. I have finished two books on Ismaili history and thought; one, The Assassins, was not the best; it was written for a popular audience and not as faithful to the facts as…

via theslowwayhome.blogspot.com – After eight days cycling, with one rest day in the village of Murghab, we reached Khorog, the busy riverside town that lies across the water from Afghanistan. The raging Panj river forms much of the Tajik-Afghan border and ultimately joins with the Vakhsh to form Central Asia’s vital artery, the Amu Darya…

Via http://thesixtrees.com/: With more than its fair share of traffic, overpopulation and pollution, Cairo can be an overwhelming and exhausting place to visit. The city has a shortage of open spaces so when Al-Azhar opened in 2005 it must have come as a huge relief for the city’s inhabitants and visitors.

via StudiesIslamica: Akbar the Great, ruler of most of South Asia in the 16th and early 17th century, rejected bigotry and made unprecedented moves to help non-Muslims feel at peace in his Mughal empire. In reflecting more closely upon his character and conduct, we can see how Akbar’s actions are antithetical to current discrimination and…

By Morgan Bromhead, United Kingdom – Have you ever heard of the Ismaili’s? If so, do you understand their place within Islam? If your answer is yes to each of these questions you can be considered within the minority in the West. A fact which I consider mind boggling, especially when coupled with the knowledge that…

My elementary school friend Rahim Jivraj invited me to the mobilization session of the annual World Partnership Walk put on by the Aga Khan Foundation Canada. It was inspirational to hear all the powerful stories of how 100% of money raised goes towards ending global poverty (no admin costs whatsoever). The walk started in 1985…

Aga Khan Museum will open in Toronto in 2014. The collection will have artworks and artefacts from the Muslim world. Canada’s commitment to pluralism, tolerance and inclusiveness is what attracted the Aga Khan to choose this country and city as the home for the museum. The Aga Khan trust for culture of the Aga Khan Development…

Many organizations that I have researched are not necessarily looking at the long term impact of their involvement in other countries. The idea that we ‘swoop in’ and implement change can cause issues long term so I think it’s fantastic that the Aga Khan Foundation seeks implementable options that the local communities can continue independently.…

It was 2:00AM in the morning on the long vacation night so freezing that one wouldn’t even think about exposing any single body part out of sleeping bag. But I did it. I had leave for the Hon Pass with a few friends to see the sun laying its very first rays on the spectacular…

In December 2007 I was in New Delhi for the International National Trusts Organization conference. This conference was attended by over 400 people from around the world and among them was one from Afghanistan, Abdul, who was an employee of the Aga Khan Heritage Trust. Abdul presented a very interesting and inspiring paper on the…